Are you a Whisky Drinker or a Whisky Collector?

Personally i am a whisky drinker, i have tried purchasing a few bottles with the intention of sticking them in the cupboard for a 5 or 10 years and watching their value increase but so far the temptation to open them has been to great. I just dont know how others manage it.

Also I find very strange those of you who collect whisky but not as an investment but simply to have a collection of rare whisky and not drink it.

I'm mainly a drinker but have a few in my collection that may come in handy for a rainy day should the need arise.

My small collection, picked up fairly inexpensively in sales etc, consists mainly of Ardbeg, Bladnoch and Brora, all of which are malts that I have a particular preference for. My policy from the outset has been that I would only add to my collection bottles that I would love to drink should they not accumulate in value/scarcity. Furthermore I only pick up a bottle when I perceive it to be a bargain.

Commonly collected malts are those from closed distilleries and the likes of the Rare Malts range. To my mind collecting seems to be all the rage just now as the common perception is that the price of single malts, and indeed whisky in general, is escalating.

I have an inventory of 75 or 80 unopened bottles, but I tend to think of them as back stock, saved for the day when I can't buy so much any more. Don't know if I'll ever get around to them all, but in my mind they're for drinking. I honestly think it's weird to collect packaged comestible items--where's the real value? If it's the whisky itself, how do you know it's the real stuff in there, if you don't drink it? It all reminds me of Zippy the Pinhead's collection of Ding Dongs and Little Debbie Snack Cakes.

I'm a drinker. But for some reason I can't explain, I buy more malts, than I can drink. While still a rank amateur compared to more than a few here, I have in the last year or so gone from 30 to almost 60 bottles - and I fear there's more to come.

So I have actually started to considering buying with a bit more forethought and perhaps finding a focus area or something.

Not becoming a collector as such, but putting together a drinking collection of nice malts, with a few precious ones among them.

I started off my whisky journey fully intending to be a drinker. However over the last few months, I've found myself squirreling a few bottles away. I now find myself with two cupboards. One with about 20 open bottles ready for drinking and sharing. The second is my special cupboard, all for saving and has another 20 bottles in.

I have never nought a bottle without the intention of drinking it (except for gifts obviously). However, like many others apparently, I buy more than I drink. I currently have a backlog of about 20 unopened 750ml bottles & 7 200ml bottles. Most of them are bottles I bought while out of state where the selection is better or bottles that were on closeout in PA. I intend to drink all of them, but obviously that's going to take a while.

Another drinker here. I usually have 8-10 bottles on hand and apart from keeping a bottle or 2 of Doublewood on hand I tend to buy something different everytime I purchase.
The other reason I don't collect is that my better half tells me I have too many collections of other things and we're running out of room.

I used to buy more than I can drink when vintages got in a few cases of something I'd like to try. When the limited shipment runs out, no idea when that will be back. As it happens, prices have shot though the roof, so I'm extremely happy with my purchases as I will not be able to afford top shelf scotch in a few years. Actually, I can only afford it now if it's on sale...

I am not a collector, but to some it would appear that way especially since I have been trying to acquire some of the more famous bottles out there. Still, it is with the intention of drinking them all at some point.

Thanks for finding that "needle in a haystack" Mr. T... but I was shocked when you attributed that gem to little old me... I'm sure I must have stolen it from someone - and can't remember who... (like most of my "original thoughts")...

Ive just returned from a couple of weeks in the Okanagan... and I'm falling behind in my drinking... and as a friend has just brought back a delivery from Alberta for me (more than a few bottles) I'm also back into "interim collecting mode"...

Now where are those friends when I need them... back to work post Labour Day!!!

When I started drinking malts I was frantically collecting rare editions; Glenmorangie Tain L'Hermitage, Very Old Ardbeg etc etc. After a few months I realised that my eyes were bigger than my pocket, and for many years have restricted myself to collecting one distillery only (Springbank)...

I would say that I buy maybe one bottle a week for the 'drinking' cupboard, but no more than 2 or three bottles a year for the 'investment' cellar.

Thanks for finding that "needle in a haystack" Mr. T... but I was shocked when you attributed that gem to little old me... I'm sure I must have stolen it from someone - and can't remember who... (like most of my "original thoughts")...

I think this saying also applies to me as well.

Anyway, to save any more head-scratching as to where it came from, it is the signature of one of our Danish friends:

Should have remembered it was Karl Ejnar, but it didn't turn up in a search, because it was in his signature. Glad to have the attribution straight--don't mind stealing a line, but it's good to know who you're stealing from.

I always collected with the intention to drink but i dont feel I can justify sitting on all that valuable whisky when
A) there are other more useful things that would benefit my family and cost money
B)The expensive bottles become too valuable to open.
C) I could pop my clogs tomorrow and never even get to enjoy those bottles.
As a result I'm selling off the bulk of my collection and will be concentrating my future whisky purchases on less valuable bottles which I can open immediately and drink with a clear guilt free conscience. I've just put 7 bottles on ebay including a couple of PEs ,an Ardbeg and a Brora and I will post the other bottles I intend to sell on the forum shortly.

Re:

Jan wrote:I'm a drinker. But for some reason I can't explain, I buy more malts, than I can drink. While still a rank amateur compared to more than a few here, I have in the last year or so gone from 30 to almost 60 bottles - and I fear there's more to come.

So I have actually started to considering buying with a bit more forethought and perhaps finding a focus area or something.

Not becoming a collector as such, but putting together a drinking collection of nice malts, with a few precious ones among them.

Re: Are you a Whisky Drinker or a Whisky Collector?

I have to admit to collecting. Specifically, I'm picking up bottles of Ichiro's malt, the card series. I tell myself that it's for my retirement. Someday, when I'm back in the States, if they have increased dramaticaly in value, I'll sell them (except the king of diamonds... I have three of them and will definitly drink at least two.)

I know that whisky is meant to be consumed, but I like the feeling of knowing that even if it doesn't increase in value, it will never depreciate, at least as far as im concerned.

Re: Are you a Whisky Drinker or a Whisky Collector?

I drink, I don't collect. I don't even have many bottles at any time - at the moment I have 7 open, and 3 unopen. Buying whisky is an ongoing thing - I don't need to stockpile cos there are always more whiskies in the shop, and new and interesting expressions being released.

For me a whisky collection would just be additional clutter - I already unintentionally hoard too many other things (but they're always so very important for me to have, at the moment of purchase!)

Re: Are you a Whisky Drinker or a Whisky Collector?

I am a drinker not a collector and like most others here I am behind in my drinking. I don't have the money to be a collector or more precisely my wife won't let me spend the money to be a collector. Anyways that is probably good as self control is not a stong point of mine and I drink the bottles that were meant for the colllection. Sigh. I think she knows me to well.